Fueling Function: Metabolic Profiling by Flow and Mass Cytometry

THE SPEAKER

Sara De Biasi, PhD - Assistant Professor, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia

Sara De Biasi is an Italian immunologist and researcher affiliated with the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, where she works within the Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences for Children and Adults. She obtained her PhD in Clinical and Experimental Medicine (Immunology) from the same institution and has continued her academic career there, progressing from postdoctoral research to a research and teaching role in general pathology and immunology. Her research focuses on the human immune system, particularly T cell biology and immune responses in conditions such as HIV infection, autoimmune diseases, cancer, and multiple sclerosis. In recent years, De Biasi has been actively involved in investigations related to COVID-19, examining immune markers and vaccine responses, as well as broader immunological mechanisms underlying severe infections and neurological disorders. With over a decade of scientific activity and numerous peer-reviewed publications, she is recognized for her contributions to translational immunology and her role in advancing understanding of immune dysfunction in complex diseases.

WEBINAR SUMMARY

This webinar will present recent advances in translational immunology through the lens of single-cell metabolic profiling, with a particular focus on the scMEP (single-cell Metabolic Profiling) approach. Over the past two years, this framework has enabled the dissection of immune cell heterogeneity by integrating functional and metabolic features at single-cell resolution. The session will explore how immunometabolism shapes immune responses across different contexts, including cancer and autoimmune diseases, highlighting the relationship between metabolic programs, immune cell activation, and disease progression. In addition, emerging insights into vaccine responses will be discussed, with emphasis on the identification of metabolic signatures associated with effective and durable immunity.
 
The webinar will also address the impact of aging on the immune system, examining how metabolic rewiring contributes to immunosenescence and altered immune competence in older individuals. Overall, this talk will provide an overview of how scMEP and multi-omics approaches can advance our understanding of immune regulation and support the development of more precise and personalized strategies in oncology, autoimmunity, and vaccinology.

Learning Objectives:
Participants will learn:
- how to measure metabolic alterations in immune cells by mass cytometry
- why metabolism is important for cell function
- how to predict vaccine response on the basis of metabolic function of immune cells

Who Should Attend:
Computational Biologists/Bioinformaticians, Research Scientists, Trainees (graduate students, postdocs, early-career researchers), Translational Immunologists

Keywords: metabolism, aging, cancer, multiple sclerosis 

CMLE Credit: 1.0